Before Rose

Chapter Two - Strange Occurances

"What kind of name is that, 'The Doctor'? It sounds more like one of the soap operas my grandmother watches at night."

"It's my kind of name, and I quite like it too. Now if you would just be quiet so I can concentrate on where I'm going, that would be fantastic."

"Hrmph." Hazel crossed her arms, feeling slightly insulted by the man, or The Doctor, as the tone he used was not far from the tone a mother might use to scold a child. "You know, I could be helpful if you don't know where you're supposed to be going. I've lived in this area for a while now, and I know most of the places around here. And I'm not some little meddling kid." Her voice had a slight agitated tone to it, and she decided not to care if it startled the ma- The Doctor. Let him flinch. See if I care, if he wants to talk to me as if I were eight.

"That's the problem. I don't know exactly where I'm supposed to be going, and I hardly know why." The Doctor's expression looked the closest to clueless you could get with a man who seemed to always know where he was going or what he was doing.

Hazel's tone of voice was calmer this time. "Can you tell me what you do know?"

"I was sent here for a reason. Most likely having to do with aliens, or other-worldly objects and such. Do you know if anything... strange... has happened around here lately?"

"What do you mean by 'sent here'?"

"In the TARDIS."

"Um... alright..." Is this guy crazy? Was he running from an asylum or something?

"Just tell me what I want to know already."

Hazel thought hard. "How long ago would it have had to be?"

"I'd say a month or two up to today."

That gave Hazel more to think about. "Hmm... Well... Oh, there was the earthquake a week ago. Gave us all quite the scare. Didn't do much damage, except to the old mill, but no one really uses that anymore. Other than that, I can't really think about anything very supernatural happening, because I surely would have noticed it. I am in an astronomy class at the college I go to, so it halfway would be my responsibility to notice, now wouldn't it? Anyway-"

The Doctor silenced her with a hand over her mouth again. "What did you say about the mill?"

Hazel Grace grabbed the Doctor's hand that was clamped across her mouth, looking infuriated. "That's the second time you've done that, and next time I swear I'm going to bite your hand!"

"Please just tell me."

"I said that it was destroyed in the earthquake." Duh.

"No, the other thing you said."

"It's been abandoned for a while."

The Doctor looked at her. "Okay. Now can you tell me how big the earthquake was."

"The news reported it to be a 3.7 measured on the seismograph." Why does he need to know all this?

"There we go! That's probably it then! An earthquake of that size shouldn't have done anything more than knock down a few shelves, not an entire mill! I bet the earthquake wasn't even natural! So your sure there hasn't been anything else strange going on around here?"

"Wait... after the earthquake, the ground seemed to glow a bit. I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, but could it be from the earthquake? And the mill... It might not even be abandoned, mightn't it?"

"Brilliant! Now you're getting it! Lets go to the mill then!" The Doctor beamed at Hazel, making her smile a little too.

The Doctor just had one of those smiles that could light up a room, and Hazel noticed it.

"By the way," The Doctor held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Hazel Grace Waters."

Hazel took his hand and gave it a firm shake, not letting go of it afterward. "And you too, The Doctor."

He gave a small laugh. "Doctor is just fine, actually."

"Alright, Doctor. By the way, you really should smile more often." And with those last words, Hazel started to run toward the mill, taking the Doctor along by his hand, which had still been in Hazel's firm, yet not harsh at all, grip.

This guy isn't too too bad, I guess.